A few nights ago I played with a little white cat, which reminded me of the endless amusement that animals can provide. But can they experience amusement? According to an article on livescience.com, "studies by various groups suggest monkeys, dogs and even rats love a good laugh." The article is a fairly hum-drum affair, mostly trying to convince the reader that animals have a sense of humor because they look and sound to humans like they are laughing. Having lived with a couple of cats for a while, I know that people love to attribute human emotion to animals by seeing human-like reactions and emotions exhibited by their pets. I am convinced that one of my cats, Calypso, was self-conscious about playing in front of people, so whenever I played with her, I would look in the other direction. Obviously absurd, but I still think I'm right. Anyway the article was worth reading just for this gem, "Although no one has investigated the possibility of rat humor, if it exists, it is likely to be heavily laced with slapstick!"
Later, I read an article on cnn.com about an elephant in Sri Lanka who was playing in a game of polo and ended up rushing off the field and crushing the opposing team's bus. Geoffrey Dobbs, the dope who organized the game was stunned. "I've been playing for seven years and it has never happened before," he said. "Elephants are quite short-sighted, and if there are sudden movements in front of them, they can sometimes be unpredictable." Really? I might think about not trying to get them to play a game where balls fly suddenly back and forth in front of their faces, huh?
Unfortunately, elephants aren't the most deadly animals in the world. It's probably the mosquito, which, by carrying and spreading viruses, kills millions of people every year. The AIDS problem in Africa? My friend Julia might yell at me for saying this, but I don't think a disease that kills as slowly as AIDS will ever get addressed until the disease that kills more, younger people at a faster rate gets solved. Luckily, there is some good news as these two articles show. Uhh, this one and this one.
As for the human animal? Well, now that you're done reading this blog, I would seriously consider reading the New York Times review of Robert's Steakhouse in the Penthouse Executive Club. I will leave you with this excerpt:
"In the end, though, the steaks are the thing. The steaks and the conversation.
Meet Foxy. When I visited Robert’s on Valentine’s Day in a mixed-gender group (not all that unusual at the restaurant), she approached our table to hawk neck and shoulder massages, also $20 apiece.
“Foxy,” I began, then stopped myself, wondering if I was being too familiar. “Are you and I on a first-name basis, or should I address you as Ms. Foxy?”
“You can call me Dr. Foxy,” she said.
“Is that an M.D. or a Ph.D.?”
“Yes,” she answered."
